Just having another look at that first kangaroo picture and it looks
like it may be Alfie Simmonds standing on it, for those who remember
him.
Here’s a pic that will bring back a few memories for you, spent many a happy hour putting on and taking off kangaroo’s at Novatrans, Novara, and waiting for the one’s loaded with either waste paper or skins to find they had been taken off the train in Paris, because the load had shifted !!
Regards MaggieD
p.s. I don’t know if that’s Gary,Charlie,or Pat on the front !! it’s not a Scania 
AndrewG
Hi sometimes the Guy Big J came in kit form, this chap is still waiting for the rest of the parts to arrive so he can come home
MaggieD:
Here’s a pic that will bring back a few memories for you, spent many a happy hour putting on and taking off kangaroo’s at Novatrans, Novara, and waiting for the one’s loaded with either waste paper or skins to find they had been taken off the train in Paris, because the load had shifted !!
Regards MaggieD
p.s. I don’t know if that’s Gary,Charlie,or Pat on the front !! it’s not a Scania
I don’t think it’s Pat, Rich he never stayed still that long and it’s not me
'cause I don’t like heights. So it must be Charlie!!!
Regards GAZ
Although I have no fotos from the years I went in and out of Novatrans (Courtesy of Louis Bull) I was sent there by P&O in 2001 on a bit of an undercover operation to observe what was happening to our trailers in and around Novara (damage, thefts and large maintence bills).
didnt by anychance used to own a fl10 as a o/d on gbe did you gazzer ■■
Nice to hear this “Giant” of a man get a mention on this site.
First of all for you Kns 64, the place that you went to with me and Fred was
British Nuclear Fuels, somewhere up the west coast. This was done with 2
ACLZ flat American trailers with small nuclear fuel tanks chained on to the centre of the bed.
Yes Fred did have a F88 240 Volvo. He bought it from the same garage mine came from, Perrins Motors, Marsh Lane, Southampton. Yes they were the local
Vauxhall and Bedford agent but also became the first Vovo Truck agency in
Southampton. This was when Princes was strictly A.E.C. agents.
No, Fred was no relation to Bert Croucher the Speedway rider. Fred was a
born and bred ‘Eastender’. Fred has done several things in his life but before moving to Southampton was running a small building business in Chertsey,
Surrey. It was the Taxman that persauded him to move and take up another occupation but we won’t go into that. His purchase of the Volvo was quite a laugh because when he decided to have it and went back to pay for it the look on the salesmans face was a picture. When asked what sort of HP arrangement he would like, his answer was, “I can’t be doing with all of that
messing.” And he promptly tipped out the contents of the bag he had with him!
About £5,000 in fivers and tenners (That was the price back then).
How do I know so much about Fred ? Well we used to run in tandem and my wife and I were over his place for tea nearly every week. We became very good friends indeed and he used to treat me like a son. Should I mention that I
needed a tyre or something, it would be ,“pop over I’ve just the thing”. Trouble
was I could never get him to take any money !
Yes, a “Giant” of a man in stature and in heart !!!
P.S. Jimmy Gavigan. Another good man. Used to be the manager of Reeves
of Manchester. Four Post Hill.
MaggieD:
AndrewG
Hi sometimes the Guy Big J came in kit form, this chap is still waiting for the rest of the parts to arrive so he can come home
Ah, so they were bitsa’s
All trucks interest me but could never understand the attraction of these Brit machines inc ERF’s, Fodens , Fords etc. Nothing mechanical designed in house wih Rockwell, ZF,Eaton, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Rolls etc etc names aplenty usually cobbled together using these mish mash of unmatched parts with poor quality interiors which no one wanted to drive 
I await the incoming flak with trepidation…
Seriously though, just my view, no offence intended to any Brit fans 
1
Yes i did have an FL10 with GBE r slicker.
Maggie D:
Eddies! You introduced us to there.
Bar Alberto, outside of Novatrans: Even nearly 20 years later, he remembered me and “her”. This is double the size it was.
And the office, Novatrans, just as awkward as any transport office.
hi gary. then nice to catch up with you again after all these years. remember n44 ton then later fm 491 based in novara ■■ used to be mr luffs driver then fm in novara ■■. well i still live in novara and ipswich. my house in via bovio long gone now got house in cerano. how are you these days gary ■■. hope you aint got the fm parked in the drive. when you where on your spying mission we dumped all those broken ceramic potts on the railway embankment me and federico did 20 pallets out of 26 down there. can you remember that ■■. all the best. brian
E.C.Transport started with 2 Kangaroos in black,and later had a Kangaroo box trailer(to carry ADR material under the RID/rail regulations).The first 2 tilts came from Merriworth and the box from A1 trailers.They were purchased when permits were hard to get,and got E.C. onto the permit list.The trailers were mainly used to go to Spain,and were handfled in Southampton by Eurohaul. Damage to both trailer and cargo could be considerable,so I was told,and rail strikes in France were not helpful either!
AndrewG:
MaggieD:
AndrewG
Hi sometimes the Guy Big J came in kit form, this chap is still waiting for the rest of the parts to arrive so he can come home
Ah, so they were bitsa’s
All trucks interest me but could never understand the attraction of these Brit machines inc ERF’s, Fodens , Fords etc. Nothing mechanical designed in house wih Rockwell, ZF,Eaton, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Rolls etc etc names aplenty usually cobbled together using these mish mash of unmatched parts with poor quality interiors which no one wanted to drive
I await the incoming flak with trepidation…
Seriously though, just my view, no offence intended to any Brit fans
Andrew,
A slightly unfair comment, the Americans build there trucks in the same way, which is not a bad idea, if you take the best of everything and put it together well, however, the one main ingrediant that british truck manufactures forgot - WAS THE DRIVER !!
And thats why there are none left !!
Regards
Ant
The Joker has been mentioned many times through these pages.but is his sister EAA769W a Southampton motor?
l bet somebody knows.
Cheers Marc.
Of course they do Bubbleman…EAA769W was owned by EC Transport of Poole, driven by Martin first. It was no. 3 Globie on the road in the UK behind mine The Joker and Brian Yeardleys but only by consecutive days on the registration document!
r slicker: It was the continual destruction of the pots that prompted my mission to Novara as well as the demise of so many rear airbags. If you look at the angle that the tug is pulling the Kangaroo, without air in the trailer, you can see why both issues occurred
The FL was sold after I started working for P&O.
Do you recognise the Italian driver on the right with his MAN TGA? Fausto from just outside Novara. I wasn’t permitted to make my presence known to anyone there except the guy who ran the warehouse on one of the platforms who’s name escapes me. Was that Freddy? Or am I mixing him up with the guy that did all the trailer repairs?
no gary it was federico in the warehouse at fmc with his mrs marlena and the gorgeous daughter who’s name escapes me. im going home next week for christmas so will nip in and see him and show him this thread. the guy with the man is the trailer fitter if i remember from verchelli where we picked up 90% of the r-r trailers. novara destroyed to many loads by there couldnt give a toss aptitude. remember marc chignoli also ?. and dani we where the 3 novara based drivers.
Federico looked after me while I was there,spying from his office on the platform, he would remember my mission. Yes, his lovely daughter…we always went for lunch in Alberto’s outside the gate.
Fausto was just a subby then and only came to UK when the railway was on strike or an urgent load was required. He knew I was off to Spain and wished I would go to Italy and we could set up a workshop there at his place.
yep both federico and fauso are great guys. ive still got my p+o gbe/fmc company uniform. i was there with you if you remember when you where on the mission. as you remembered me from my protrack days and my iveco n 44 ton. damm thing 
. hows life in spain these days ?
I do remember Dani, he took me to his farm as seen here:
